Skip to main content

Search

Browse News

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice

Universal Periodic Review Reception Address 9 November 2015

Thank you Ambassador Quinn for your warm welcome and thank you for generously hosting us here today. I would like to begin by acknowledging all Ambassadors and Excellencies with us this evening. I acknowledge the grandfather of our Parliament, the Hon Mr Philip Ruddock MP, Special Envoy for...

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

Finding a balance for freedom of religion

Those of different beliefs need to be active in reshaping the conversation about religious freedom if it is to be preserved in law. Yesterday, the Australian Human Rights Commission hosted the first of many religious freedom round tables. These round tables have resulted from a year-long consultation...

Category, Opinion
Rights and Freedoms

Introduction of the Religious Freedom Roundtable

Thank you. Thank you to the Attorney-General for his presence this morning. I know he has to run because he has commitments in Canberra, but I greatly appreciate his efforts to come this morning to support the discussions we are about to have. I’d also like to thank the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Professor Gillian Triggs, who will be present for part of this morning as an observer.

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

Why Geert Wilders should be allowed to visit Australia

Our borders should not be used to control access to unpopular ideas, and in the internet age such efforts are futile. According to reports, Lebanese Muslim Association president Samier Dandan​ has advised the Prime Minister not to grant a visa to controversial Dutch MP, Geert Wilders, using the...

Category, Opinion
Rights and Freedoms

Austin Asche Oration in Law and Governance

Austin Asche Oration in Law and Governance Thursday 3 September 2015 I am honoured to have been invited to speak tonight at this, the 5 th Austin Asche Oration in Law and Governance. As I had not met or known the Hon. Austin Asche. As any researcher would do, I ‘googled’ him to learn about his...

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

NSW Council for Civil Liberties

I was pleased to have been invited to speak to the NSW Council for Civil Liberties at this your annual fund raising dinner for you are, above all, best placed to understand the phenomenon of the last few years that is of concern to the Australian Human Rights Commission; that is, the encroachment of...

Category, Speech
Race Discrimination

Building social cohesion

I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Darug people, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay my respects to elders past and present. I also acknowledge the fine work of the University of Western Sydney, particularly Dr Sev Ozdowski, in putting together this conference. It’s most...

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

What are the proper limits on the power of Parliament?

Distinguished guests, friends and colleagues - thank you for your welcome to this Law Institute of Victoria seminar. I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land and pay my respects to their elders past and present. I will always have a soft spot for the Law Institute of Victoria. I was admitted...

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

What are the proper limits on the power of Parliament?

Distinguished guests, friends and colleagues - thank you for your welcome to this Law Institute of Victoria seminar. I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land and pay my respects to their elders past and present. I will always have a soft spot for the Law Institute of Victoria. I was admitted...

Category, Speech
Rights and Freedoms

Freedom, Parliament and the Courts. Speech to the Human Rights Dinner

Please check against delivery Distinguished guests, friends and colleagues- thank you for your welcome tonight. I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and pay respect to their elders past and present. I am honoured to be a patron of Justice Connect...

Category, Speech
Commission – General

Freedom, Parliament and the Courts

Speech to the annual Human Rights Dinner, co-hosted by Justice Connect and the Human Rights Law Centre. Draft: check against delivery Thank you for your welcome tonight. Acknowledgement of country I am honored to be a patron of Justice Connect that has so successfully aligned probono lawyers with...

Category, Speech
Race Discrimination

Forty years of the Racial Discrimination Act

In October 1975, at a ceremony for the proclamation of the Racial Discrimination Act, then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam described the legislation as ‘a historic measure’, which aimed to ‘entrench new attitudes of tolerance and understanding in the hearts and minds of the people’.(1) The Act was...

Category, Opinion
Asylum Seekers and Refugees

The Government, the High Court and the Migration Act

  The long running, if muted, struggle between the High Court of Australia and the Government over refugees recalls a bitter legal battle in the early 17th century. Sir Edward Coke, the first Lord Chief Justice of England, defied King James 1 by asserting the supremacy of the common law over the...

Category, Opinion
Children's Rights

Embedding children’s rights into children’s services

YMCA 2015 National Children’s Services Conference Moonee Valley Racing Club, Victoria Saturday 21 March 2015 Introduction Good morning and thank you for the introduction. I would like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, the Wurundjeri people of the...

Category, Speech

Follow us on social media

We engage in social media to promote discussion and debate on human rights issues.

Media centre

Visit our media centre for up to date contact details for all media enquiries.

Learn More